Darwin braces for cyclone

RESIDENTS of the northern Australian city of Darwin were last night preparing for the onslaught of a severe tropical cyclone predicted to be one of the worst storms ever to hit Australia.

Fishermen were securing their boats and a uranium mine halted operations as category-five cyclone Monica, packing winds of up to 217mph, hovered about 275 miles north-east of Darwin, lashing sparsely populated islands off Australia's Northern Territory, according to the national Bureau of Meteorology.

Senior forecaster Gordon Jackson said the storm was "quite possibly" the worst cyclone to hit Australia more powerful than even Cyclone Tracy, which levelled Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974, killing 65 people.